Jake Jake Premium

I am stunned that as of 45 minutes ago as I'm writing this there was no review of this story. I'm guessing it because this a premium readers story.I concur with @DaveinLA review on all counts.The only thing I would add is Mr. James also uses humor very well. I have  heard many many readers talk about Circumnavigation  also well it's 159 chapters so I guess I better get started

I thought I had read all of C James's work until I accidentally found Jake while scrolling through the list of Premium completed stories.

C James is a master wordsmith of the highest caliber.  His portrayal of Jake - a teen with a brilliant mind and a conscience that, at times, is at odds with his somewhat errant personality - gives his readers every right to fall in love with Jake as any doting parent might look upon their favorite child.  A situation which Jake does not enjoy as his parents are in the category of people who should have been prosecuted for having a child in the first place.

In this novel, named after him, Jake travels a very rocky road.  He has tangles with the law, he has tangles with gangsters that lead to bloodshed and injuries and he has tangles with his own unworthy parents.  

In his own judgment, he is unworthy to act on the feelings he has for his best friend, whom he knows to be gay by his friend's own admission, simply because he believes his own character will ultimately cause harm to his friend.  So he lies, telling his friend he is straight and maintaining a best friend relationship without any overtones of a closer relationship.  Until it is all revealed.

C James paints the interactions between the two friends so graphically that the reader feels them inside as he or she reads the prose.  He does the same with the other characters until the reader is caught up in the very same world that Jake lives in.

This story is rife with drama, action, some teenage angst and great colorful character descriptions.  It ends on a surprising note - one that some may consider controversial - but one worth giving an intellectual appraisal of.

This is a novel well worth reading.  Like Mr. James other works, it is a masterpiece.

I cannot end this without adding that one of C James's other works, Circumnavigation, despite its daunting 158 Chapters and 1,080,000 words, may be the best dramatic novel on the web.  If seated on a panel to vote, I would certainly give it my ballot.  So, it is no secret that Mr. James is the best of the best.

Thank you, C James, for the hard work and the effort you have put into providing us with such great reads.  It is appreciated more than you know.

Davey